My Most Valuable Modern Cards

 Most of my most valuable cards come from the 1950's - 1970's.  That makes sense since they are the oldest cards.  The big exception is the Mike Trout rookie card.

But I was curious about my more modern cards and their value.  So I found my most valuable cards, both Cub and non-Cub, from each decade, stating with the 1980s.  Here's what I found:

1980s:  Cub card: 1982 Team Issued Ryne Sandberg - $86.00

              Non-Cub: 1989 Upper Deck #1 Ken Griffey, Jr. - $165.00

The Sandberg card is what I consider to be his rookie card.  It is the only card that was issued during his rookie season and it shows him as a third baseman.  It has limited distribution as it was in a set that was given away on one day at Wrigley Field.

 

1990s:  Cub card: 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Auto Ron Santo - $24.99

              Non-Cub: 1997 Fleer #512 David Arias - $102.59

I didn't realize that Big Papi's rookie card was so expensive.

 

2000s: Cub card: 2002 Topps 206 relic #TR-JEV1 Johnny Evers - $37.69

             Non-Cub: 2001 Topps Traded #247 Albert Pujols - $139.99

You'd think that a card with a relic that is over 100 years old would be worth a bit more and a card that has hundreds of thousands of copies wouldn't be so expensive.

2010s: Cub card: 2015 Topps Finest #111 Kris Bryant - $75.00

             Non-Cub 2011 Topps Update #175 Mike Trout - $710.00

I bet the Bryant card doesn't hold its value.  I'd sell it now if I was in the hobby for just the cash.

 

2020s:  Cub card: 2022 Topps #490 Ernie Banks variation - $49.99

              Non-Cub: 2022 Topps Update #44 Julio Rodriguez - $7.94

I now question the value of this entire post, along with those from the past three days.  I did a quick check on the Banks variation card and found several copies sold on eBay recently for $5 to $8.  The TCDB value of $49.99 must have been from when the set was first sold.  So how about all of their other card value listings?  How accurate are they?